Named to the 2025 World’s Most Beautiful Museums List by influential Prix Versailles, Cleveland Museum of Natural History joins a short, prestigious list of global institutions to be recognized for excellence in new museum architecture.

© DLR Group | Kevin G Reeves

“Every aspect of our transformed Museum aims to achieve one unified vision: to promote healthy humans, a healthy planet and a better future for all,” said Sonia Winner, president and CEO, Cleveland Museum of Natural History. “We are thrilled that this commitment to architecture in the service of science has been recognized on an international stage.”

The Prix Versailles is a global architecture and design award program held annually at UNESCO since 2015, honoring “innovation, creativity, respect for local heritage, ecological efficiency, and the values of social interaction and participation.” Founded in 1920, Cleveland Museum of Natural History underwent a $150 million renewal led by its architectural partner DLR Group, resulting in impressive sustainability features that earned it LEED Platinum certification. Initiatives include a visible solar panel array, bird-safe glass and an integrated stormwater retention system.

© DLR Group | Kevin G Reeves

The museum’s collection of galleries begins with a vast, light-filled Visitor Hall presided over by specimens like Balto the sled dog; a prehistoric Dunkleosteus fish; Lucy, an early relative of humans; and “Happy,” a long-necked Haplocanthosaurus dinosaur. Other galleries include Smead Discovery Center, Shafran Planetarium & Mueller Observatory, Evolving Life Wing, Ames Family Curiosity Center, the Larry Sears and Sally Zlotnick Sears Dynamic Earth Wing, and Ralph Perkins II Wildlife Center & Woods Garden. Through its Natural Areas Program, the museum stewards 12,500-plus acres of protected ecosystems spanning northern Ohio.

Others museums named by Prix Versailles include Grand Palais in Paris; Saka Museum in Bali; Audeum in Seoul; Kunstsilo in Kristiansand, Norway; Dirlyah Art Futures in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; and Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, Nebraska.